Sunday Scripture Readings: Studies and Meditations, October 10

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Sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that reference verses from the Second Reading include the following:

**437 **To the shepherds, the angel announced the birth of Jesus as the Messiah promised to Israel: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."32 From the beginning he was “the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world”, conceived as “holy” in Mary’s virginal womb.33 God called Joseph to “take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit”, so that Jesus, “who is called Christ”, should be born of Joseph’s spouse into the messianic lineage of David.34

1. Lk 2:11.

1. Jn 10:36; cf. Lk 1:35.

1. Mt 1:20; cf. 1:16; Rom 1:1;** 2 Tim 2:8**; Rev 22:16.

The meaning of Christian death

1010 Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."576 "The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him.**577 **What is essentially new about Christian death is this: through Baptism, the Christian has already “died with Christ” sacramentally, in order to live a new life; and if we die in Christ’s grace, physical death completes this “dying with Christ” and so completes our incorporation into him in his redeeming act:

It is better for me to die in (eis) Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. Him it is I seek - who died for us. Him it is I desire - who rose for us. I am on the point of giving birth. . . . Let me receive pure light; when I shall have arrived there, then shall I be a man.578

1. Phil 1:21.

577. 2 Tim 2:11.

1. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom.,6,1-2:Apostolic Fathers,II/2,217-220.

**1499 ** "By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ."98

98. LG 11; cf. Jas 5:14-16; Rom 8:17; Col 1:24; **2 Tim 2:11-12;** 1 Pet 4:13.

2641 "[Address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart."124 Like the inspired writers of the New Testament, the first Christian communities read the Book of Psalms in a new way, singing in it the mystery of Christ. In the newness of the Spirit, they also composed hymns and canticles in the light of the unheard-of event that God accomplished in his Son: his Incarnation, his death which conquered death, his Resurrection, and Ascension to the right hand of the Father.125 Doxology, the praise of God, arises from this “marvelous work” of the whole economy of salvation.126

1. Eph 5:19; Col 3:16.

1. Cf. Phil 2:6-11; Col 1:15-20; Eph 5:14; 1 Tim 3:16; 6:15-16; 2 Tim 2:11-13.

1. Cf. Eph 1:3-14; Rom 16:25-27; Eph 3:20-21; Jude 24-25.

 

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Some questions on the Second reading for personal reflection:

– What is the importance of the fact that Jesus was a descendant of King David? That he rose from the dead? What would Jesus’ significance be without these?

– What propositions are set forth here (verses 11-13)? What is our ultimate certainty?

– Consider the qualities of spiritual patience. Of persistence. Of steadfastness. Of faithfulness. How are these qualities active in the Second Reading? What is their reward?

– Have you ever come close to denying Christ? What got you through the experience? Can you look back on the experience and say that Christ has ever denied you?

 

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A meditation for personal application from Catholic Matters:

APPLICATION: Timothy, a faithful follower of Christ and of his teacher, St. Paul, and a man who spent his life preaching the Christian faith, and finally gave his life for it. If he needed reminding of the essence of Christianity, how much more do we Christians of the twentieth century need this reminder. We too have died and risen to a new life with Christ in our baptism. In parenthesis. I hope the Church will bring back baptism by total immersion, it expressed so vividly the death of the natural man in imitation of Christ’s death and burial, and the rising up from the grave to a new supernatural life in and with Christ. However, this is exactly what the baptism received by all and which made us Christians, members of Christ’s mystical body, signified and actuated in us. We were made new men, raised to the supernatural status of sons of God, and set on the road to heaven, the eternal heritage which the Incarnation won for US.

How often during the weeks, months, years of our lives do we really think seriously of what being a Christian means to us? How many mornings in our lives as we dress and prepare for another day’s work do we remember that the coming twenty-four hours are bringing us another day nearer to our final examination on which all our eternity depends? It is not the work we do that makes any difference. It is the right intention with which we approach it and the honesty with which we carry it out.

The monk who from his vocation gives his day to prayer and spiritual exercises, but who gives it grudgingly and completely forgetting God who has registered twenty-four hours on the debit page of his life’s record. The bricklayer who had barely time to make a short morning offering, but who made it, and honestly spent his day laying one monotonous brick on another, doing so for the honor and glory of God, as part of his life’s task, has his twenty-four hours written in gold on his account book.

It is not our vocation in life, nor the occupation or place we hold in the society in which we live, that will assure or impede our success or failure in our final examination. It is the intention and the manner in which we carry out whatever role in life God has allotted to us. Shakespeare, a man of wisdom, says this world is a stage whereon each man must play his part. The success of any play depends on how each member of the cast plays his or her role. The little servant-maid who brings the coffee-tray to the queen or the star, and who does it properly with a true appreciation of her humble role, is as responsible for the play’s success as the queen or star may be.

We pass across the stage of this life only once. We have no rehearsals or no repeats. If we are sincere Christians, we know where we are going, we’ll go off the stage through the right door. God is infinitely merciful and pardons sins and mistakes again and again. The Christian who ignores the calls to repentance sent him so often in his lifetime, can hardly be surprised if he ignores the last and final call also, and finds himself unrepentant at God’s judgment seat.

Let us listen to the voice of God today. We have yet time to put things right, if up to now we have been neglectful in our duty as Christians. We died with Christ in baptism. We promised to live for and with him during our stay on this earth. He promised us a resurrection to an eternally happy life if we kept our word. Baptism has already put us on the right road to heaven. There are obstacles and difficulties scattered along that road but we are forewarned and therefore forearmed to face them. Paul, Timothy, Peter, Andrew and all the other thousands of saints who are today in heaven met the same obstacles which we have to meet and even greater ones. They were as human and as weak as we are. They won their battles—so can we. The same graces which God gave them he is only too glad to give us. All we need to do is to ask for them and then to use them.

Christ became man so that I could become a son of God. Christ died so that I might live eternally. Christ was raised from the dead and went to heaven to prepare a place for me there. I, too, shall rise from the dead and occupy that place which he has prepared for me, if I live my short life on earth as my Christian faith tells me I should live it.

 

[Crumpy]

here’s a link to some homilies on this 10.10.2010 sunday scripture readings

homilies.net/

 

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here’s a link to some homilies on this 10.10.2010 sunday scripture readings

homilies.net/

Thanks for sharing Crumpy. There are a ton of resources there that I’m sure others will find helpful.

 

[Fidelis]

Gospel Reading: Luke 17:11-19

Our gospel reading this week takes over where our reading left off last week. Last week we heard of the inward renewal of disciples. Today we begin the conclusion of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Leprosy was widespread in the Middle East at the time of Christ. Those suffering from it were segregated and lived in leper-colonies outside the towns and villages or banded together to eke out a living on the fringes of society. They depended on alms for their subsistence. They had to warn anyone who approached them of their condition, by ringing a bell and shouting “unclean,” as the disease was held to be highly contagious and to touch them would render a Jew ritually unclean. The most common response of people meeting them was to run the other way. To be incorporated back into society after being healed was an elaborate process.See Leviticus 13.

The Gospel Reading as we will hear it on Sunday:

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”

 

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From the Navarre Bible Commentary (with RSV-CE text):

[11] On the way to Jerusalem He (Jesus) was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. [12] And as He entered the village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance [13] and lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” [14] When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. [15] Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; [16] and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. [17] Then said Jesus, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? [18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” [19] And He said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

11-19. The setting of this episode explains how a Samaritan could be in the company of Jews. There was no love lost between Jews and Samaritans (cf. John 4:9), but shared pain, in the case of these lepers, overcame racial antipathy.

The Law of Moses laid down, to prevent the spread of the disease, that lepers should live away from other people and should let it be known that they were suffering from this disease (cf. Leviticus 13:45-46). This explains why they did not come right up to Jesus and His group, but instead begged His help by shouting from a distance. Before curing them our Lord orders them to go to the priests to have their cure certified (cf. Leviticus 14:2ff), and to perform the rites laid down. The lepers’ obedience is a sign of faith in Jesus’ words. And, in fact, soon after setting out they are cleansed.

However, only one of them, the Samaritan, who returns praising God and showing his gratitude for the miracle, is given a much greater gift than the cure of leprosy. Jesus says as much: “Your faith has made you well” (verse 19) and praises the man’s gratefulness. The Gospel records this event to teach us the value of gratefulness: "Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day. Because He gives you this and that. Because you have been despised. Because you haven’t what you need or because you have.

"Because He made His Mother so beautiful, His Mother who is also your Mother. Because He created the sun and the moon and this animal and that plant. Because He made that man eloquent and you He left tongue-tied…

“Thank Him for everything, because everything is good” ([St] J. Escriva, “The Way”, 268).

 

[Fidelis]

From the Douay Rheims Bible with Haydock Commentary:

12 And as he entered into a certain town, there met him ten men, that were lepers, who stood afar off:
13 And they lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw, he said: Go, shew yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, that as they went, they were cleansed.

Ver. 14. To the priests. Jesus sends them to the priests, to convince the latter of the reality of the cures which he wrought, and oblige them by that to acknowledge him for their Messias; 2ndly, that the lepers might enjoy the fruit of their cure, by returning to the society of their fellow men, after they had been declared clean, and satisfied all the demands of the law; for there were may ceremonies previous to be gone through. (Calmet) — And lastly, to shew that in the new law, such as are defiled with the leprosy of sin, should apply to the priests. Hence, says St. Augustine, let no one despise God’s ordinance, saying that it is sufficient to confess to God alone. (Lib. de visit. infirm.)

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was cleansed, went back, with a loud voice, glorifying God.
16 And he fell on his face before his feet, giving thanks: and this man was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten made clean? and where are the nine?
18 There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger.
19 And he said to him: Arise, go thy way: for thy faith hath made thee whole.

Ver. 19. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Were not the others also made whole? They were cleansed indeed from their leprosy, but it no where appears that they were justified in their souls like this Samaritan, of whom it said, thy faith hath made thee whole; whereas it was said of the others, that they were made clean, viz. of their leprosy in their body, though not justified in their soul: this the Samaritan alone seems to have obtained. (Maldonatus)

 

[Fidelis]

Other thoughts on the Second Reading:

**11 As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.

12 As he was entering a village, ten lepers met (him). They stood at a distance from him: **Persons with skin diseases were considered not clean or holy and were isolated. They could not go to synagogue or Temple. Anyone who touched an unclean person became unclean themselves. These ten are separated from everything—including their kinsmen. As the law prescribed, they did not come near Jesus, but they shouted from a distance. Misery so loves company that this group, as we will see, consists of both Jews and one Samaritan (with whom Jews normally did not deal).

13 and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”: They had heard of him. They knew his name. They had heard of his miracles. They ask him to cure them.

**14 And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”: **The Mosaic law prescribed that it was the duty of Aaron and his descendants—the priests of the Temple,—to examine a man suspected of leprosy. If the priest decided that it was leprosy this man had to be isolated from the people. If a man thought that the leprosy had left him he had to go to the priest and get a declaration that he was cured of the disease before he could return to live in his community (see Lev. 13-14). Jesus complied with the Mosaic law. The Samaritan most probably would have gone to his own priests at Mt. Gerizim.

**As they were going they were cleansed: The disease did not disappear on the spot, as was the case with other cures which he worked. He tested their faith. They saw the disease had not left them—if they doubted his power they would say, “what is the use going to the priest, we are still ‘unclean’?” But they did believe in his power, and found themselves rid of the disease on their way.
**
15 And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice: The moment he realized that Jesus had cured him, and before going to the priest, he would do that later, one of the ten returned thanking God in a loud voice.

16 and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him: He prostrated himself at the feet of Jesus—a sign of deepest respect and honor–and expressed his gratitude by praising the goodness and kindness of Jesus.

He was a Samaritan: He was one of the descendants of that mixed race of pagans and Jews who inhabited the northern part of Palestine ever since the schism which divided the kingdom of David and Solomon into two hostile camps, when Solomon’s son Jeroboam succeeded to his father’s throne (931 B.C., see 1 Kgs. 12). The northern separatists were reduced in numbers at the time of Christ and lived mostly in the town of Samaria and its environs. Hence the name Samaritans. They were still bitterly opposed to the Jews.

**17 Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?: **Jesus expressed his surprise that the other nine did not return to thank him.

18 Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?": And the nine who did not come to show their gratitude were his own compatriots, his fellow Jews. This “foreigner” outsider, as indeed he was both in religion and in race; the Samaritans had their own place of worship and did not come to the Temple of Jerusalem. It was therefore, all the more surprising that he should be more grateful than the other nine who should have known better.

**19 Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”: **Not salvation by faith alone, the Samaritan had to act on that faith and ask for healing. Jesus has restored him to his community and family—he is no longer an outcast. His faith also, his trust in the power of Christ, and his sense of obedience were greater than those of the other nine. He was willing to go to a Jewish priest and comply with the Mosaic law even though he was not bound by it, but he would do it because Jesus told him to do so. He is now told to go his way, there is no need for him to go to the Jewish priest. He merited his cure because of his great faith and trust.

 

[Fidelis]

Some Catechism of the Catholic Church sections that are related to this Sunday’s Gospel Reading or parallel (or similar) passages in the other Gospels:

2616 Prayer to Jesus is answered by him already during his ministry, through signs that anticipate the power of his death and Resurrection: Jesus hears the prayer of faith, expressed in words (the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good thief)84 or in silence (the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the sinful woman).85 The urgent request of the blind men, “Have mercy on us, Son of David” or “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” has-been renewed in the traditional prayer to Jesus known as the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"86 Healing infirmities or forgiving sins, Jesus always responds to a prayer offered in faith: “Your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

St. Augustine wonderfully summarizes the three dimensions of Jesus' prayer: "He prays for us as our priest, prays in us as our Head, and is prayed to by us as our God. Therefore let us acknowledge our voice in him and his in us."87

84 Cf. Mk 1:40-41; 5:36; 7:29; Cf. Lk 23:39-43.
85 Cf. Mk 25; 5:28; Lk 7:37-38.
86 Mt 9:27, Mk 10:48.
87 St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 85,1L 37,1081; cf. GILH 7.

**1503 **Christ’s compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendent sign that "God has visited his people"104 and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins;105 he has come to heal the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of.106 His compassion toward all who suffer goes so far that he identifies himself with them: "I was sick and you visited me."107 His preferential love for the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of Christians toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of tireless efforts to comfort them.

1504 Often Jesus asks the sick to believe.108 He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands,109 mud and washing.110 The sick try to touch him, "for power came forth from him and healed them all."111 And so in the sacraments Christ continues to “touch” us in order to heal us.

**1505 **Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own: “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”.112 But he did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover. On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the “sin of the world,”.113 of which illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion.

105 Cf. Mk 2:5-12.
106 Cf. Mk 2:17.
107 Mt 25:36.
108 Cf. Mk 5:34, 36; 9:23.
109 Cf. Mk 7:32-36; 8:22-25.
110 Cf. Jn 9:6-7.
111 Lk 6:19; cf. Mk 1:41; 3:10; 6:56.
112 Mt 8:17; cf. Isa 53:4.
113 Jn 1:29; cf. Isa 53:4-6.

**2096 **Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve,” says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy.13
**
2097 **To adore God is to acknowledge, in respect and absolute submission, the “nothingness of the creature” who would not exist but for God. To adore God is to praise and exalt him and to humble oneself, as Mary did in the Magnificat, confessing with gratitude that he has done great things and holy is his name.14 The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.

13 Lk 4:8; Cf. Deut 6:13.
14 Cf. Lk 1:46-49.

 

[Fidelis]

Some questions on the Gospel reading for personal reflection:

*   What would healing mean for a leper in biblical times? In what ways does the Gospel story of the 10 lepers relate to the story of Naaman in our first reading?

* What is the significance of the one leper being a Samaritan (verse 16)? From what did his faith save him (verse 19)? For what did it save him? What might the healing indicate at a deeper level?

* What do you think happened to the other 9 lepers after they were cleansed and went to show themselves to the priests, as Jesus told them to (verse 14)?

* When your prayer is answered, do you act like the one leper who returned to give thanks, or the other nine who did not? How do you express your gratitude to God?

 

[Fidelis]

A meditation for personal application from Catholic Matters:

APPLICATION: This incident of the ten lepers happened as our Lord was on his way to Jerusalem, where he was to die on the cross so that we could live eternally. The Church brings it before our minds today, not so much to remind us of the mercy and kindness of Jesus to all classes, even the outcasts, as lepers were, as to make us see and be amazed at the depths of ingratitude to which men can sink.

This is but one of many such examples of ingratitude that occurred during Christ’s public ministry, most of those he miraculously cured forget to thank him. In today’s incident there was one, and he was the one least expected to do so, who had the decency to return and thank his benefactor. This pleased our Lord and led him to remark on the ingratitude of the others. “Were not all ten made whole, where are the other nine?”

He was surprised and also sad for their sakes, not for his own. They missed greater graces through this lack of appreciation and gratitude.

All ten showed great faith and confidence in Jesus’ power to heal. They had not heard him preach nor had they seen any of his miracles. They lived in isolation camps, yet they believed the reports they had heard. They all were very obedient too. They set off for Jerusalem to carry out the command of Jesus, even though their leprosy had not yet left them.

In all of this it was their own self-interest which came first in the minds of the nine Jews. Once they found their leprosy gone all they thought of was their own good fortune. Their Benefactor was quickly forgotten. The Samaritan’s first thought, on the other hand, was of the one who had healed him. He was as delighted as the others with his cure but being generous and thoughtful for others, he felt it his bounden duty to return and thank the man who had done him this miraculous good turn.

While we are ashamed of our fellow-men who were so ungrateful, and who treated the loving Jesus so shamefully, let us see if we have improved very much in our way of acting towards our Savior. Those Jewish lepers did not know that he was the Son of God who assumed human nature, became man, in order to raise us up to a new supernatural status. He gave them the gift of physical health for thirty, forty, or maybe sixty years more. We know that he has come to give us an eternal life—a life that will last forever, a life free from all troubles and worries “where all tears will be wiped away and death shall be no more.”

With this knowledge then of what Christ means to us, of what his Incarnation has won for us, of the eternal freedom from all sickness and death which his human life, death and resurrection have put at our disposal, how can any real Christian ever cease thanking him, could there be such a being as an ungrateful Christian ever on earth?

Unfortunately, there is not only one such ungrateful being, but there are millions of them. How many of us here present are numbered amongst these ungrateful ones? There are those of us who think of God only when we are in difficulties. While things are going well, when there is no sickness in the home, when our business is prospering, when there is peace all around us, how many times in the week do we say “thank you, God, you are very good to me.” When trouble strikes it is a different matter. We rush to church, we implore God to have pity on us, we make novenas to our special saints. This is not wrong. What is wrong, however, is that we forgot to thank God all the time that he was giving us spiritual and temporal favors.

Think for a moment. If those nine ungrateful lepers were struck again with disease some months later and returned to implore Christ for a cure, would you blame him if he refused? Most of us would refuse. Yet we expect him to listen to our urgent pleas the minute we make them, while we have not given him a thought and never said one “thank you, Lord,” while things were going well with us.

We all need to be more grateful to God every day of our lives—more grateful than we have been. He has not only given us life on this earth with its joys and its sorrows, but he has prepared for us a future life where there will be no admixture of sorrows. It is for that life that we are working. It is because there is a heaven after death that we are Christians. God has already done his part in preparing this heaven for us. He is assisting us daily to get there. We need a lot of that assistance and one of the surest ways of getting further benefits from God (as well as from men) is to show true gratitude for the benefits already received.

 

[Fidelis]

A meditation from Daily Reading and Meditation by Don Schwager:

Meditation: What can adversity teach us about the healing power of love and mercy? Proverbs gives us a hint: A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity (Prov. 17:17). When adversity strikes you find out who truly is your brother, sister, and friend. The gospel records an unusual encounter between individuals who belonged to groups which had been divided and hostile towards one another for centuries. The Jews regarded the Samaritans as heretics worse than pagans. And as a result they had no dealings with each another. They were openly hostile whenever their paths crossed. In this gospel narrative we see one rare exception – a Samaritan leper in company with nine Jewish lepers. Sometimes adversity forces us to drop our barriers or to forget our prejudices. When this band of lepers saw Jesus they made a bold request. They didn’t ask for healing, but instead asked for mercy.

The word mercy literally means “sorrowful at heart”. But mercy is more than just compassion, or heartfelt sorrow at another’s misfortune. While compassion empathizes with the sufferer, mercy goes further. It removes suffering. A merciful person shares in another’s misfortune and suffering as if it were his own. And he will do everything in his power to dispel that misery. Mercy is also connected with justice. Thomas Aquinas said that mercy “does not destroy justice, but is a certain kind of fulfillment of justice. …Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; (and) justice without mercy is cruelty.” Pardon without repentance negates justice. So what is the significance of these ten lepers asking for mercy? They know they are in need of healing, not just physical, but spiritual healing as well. They approach Jesus with contrition and faith because they believe that he can release the burden of guilt and suffering and make restoration of body and soul possible. Their request for mercy is both a plea for pardon and release from suffering. Jesus gives mercy to all who ask with faith and contrition.

Why did only one leper out of ten — a Samaritan whom the Jews despised as a people worse than pagans — return to show gratitude? Gratefulness is related to grace — a word which means the release of loveliness. Gratitude is the homage of the heart which responds with graciousness in expressing an act of thanksgiving. The Samaritan approached Jesus reverently and gave praise to God. If we do not recognize and appreciate the mercy shown us we will be ungrateful. Ingratitude is forgetfulness or a poor return for kindness received. Ingratitude easily leads to lack of charity and intolerance towards others as well as to other sins, such as discontent, dissatisfaction, complaining, grumbling, pride and presumption. How often have we been ungrateful to our parents, pastors, teachers, and neighbors? Do you express gratitude to God for his mercy and do you show mercy to your neighbor?

*“Lord, may I never fail to recognize your love and mercy. Fill my heart with gratitude and thanksgiving and free me from pride, discontentment, and ingratitude. Help me to count my blessings with gratefulness and to give thanks in all circumstances.” *

 

[Genesius]

Today’s reading is Luke 17:11-19. In the last few verses we read:

….“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

There were at least two things that leaped out at me as follows:

1. Although active faith certainly can save us, it doesn’t always heal us. Note that Jesus did not say “your faith has healed you.” In other passages, perhaps. This flies in the face of some people’s notion who claim that you are not healed because you do not have enough faith. If it is God’s will for someone to be healed, they will be. If not, they will not be.
2. Notice it’s not just some passive faith that Jesus is speaking of here that saved the leper. The other lepers’ fates are not indicated, but the leper that actually approached Jesus with gratitude we are told was saved because of what he did, not just because of how he felt or just what he believed.

 

[Fidelis]

A meditation and some questions for group and personal reflection from “The Word Among Us” magazine:

“Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” (Luke 17:19)

What an exciting statement! Out of the ten who first asked Jesus for healing, this fellow was the only one whom Jesus praised. What was it that set him apart? Let’s look at the way he overcame three barriers, all of which can speak to us today.

The first barrier was physical: his illness of leprosy, which was considered to be highly contagious. The second barrier was cultural: He was a Samaritan, whom the Jews looked down upon as unworthy of God’s favor. And the third barrier was spiritual: the temptation to take his healing and run with it, without coming back to thank Jesus for performing such a miracle in his life.

Just as this fellow’s leprosy caused a barrier between himself and his family, so too does sin prevent us from being brothers and sisters. Sin creates barriers and division. It isolates us and makes us focus on ourselves and not on the needs and the love of those around us.

Culturally, this man saw that Jesus’ message and his power were meant for everyone, not just Jesus’ kinsfolk, the Jews. Just as Jews looked down on Samaritans, so too did many Samaritans consider their Jewish neighbors to be inferior to them. But this fellow was so moved by his healing that he came back and humbly thanked and praised Jesus for this miracle. Similarly, when we are healed by God’s grace, our prejudices against other people begin to melt away.

You can almost hear Jesus saying: “How can this Samaritan fellow, this foreigner with the strange accent and the unorthodox spirituality, be the only one who came back to me? Why didn’t they all come?” Jesus asks us the same question: “Will you come to me, or have you forgotten me? Will you let me help you overcome your barriers?”

“Lord, wipe away every sin and tear down every barrier. Unite us all in you. Let nothing divide us. We will never forget what you have done for us.”

Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion

** (2 Kings 5:14-17; Psalm 98:1-4; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19)**

1. In the first reading, Naaman, an army commander from Aram, is healed through the prophet Elisha. Why do you believe his healing caused Naaman to turn from false gods to the true God and Lord? Do you believe that God still heals today? Why or why not? Share any times you were healed by God or witnessed God’s healing. What impact did it have on you?

1. The response in the responsorial psalm is, “The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.” What is the difference between God’s healing power and his saving power? How have you personally experienced the Lord’s saving power?

1. In the second reading, we hear these words: “But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:12-13). What do you think these words mean? How do they apply to you personally?

1. In the Gospel, why do you believe only one of the ten lepers who were healed glorified God and came back to praise and thank Jesus? How often do you spend time in prayer praising and thanking God for the many blessings you have received from him? Why not take some time now to do this, especially for saving you from sin and eternal separation from God.

1. The meditation ends with these words: “Jesus asks us the same question: ‘Will you come to me, or have you forgotten me?’” How would you answer this question?

 

[Fidelis]

A Day of Remembering — A Biblical Reflection for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Today’s readings are about remembering and thanksgiving, healing and salvation.

In the Old Testament reading, (Second Kings 5:14-17) Naaman the Syrian remembers to thank Elisha for his cure, and one of the 10 lepers cured by Jesus remembered to turn up and thank his healer. In the reading from the Second Letter to Timothy (8-13), Paul asks Timothy (and us) to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. Recalling Jesus’ death and resurrection fills us with gratitude, heals and strengthens us to face any adversity, difficulty and suffering, thus making us people of gratitude.

Naaman’s double cleansing

First let us consider the Old Testament reading. The imposing person of Naaman is told by the Prophet Elisha that he should seven times bathe in the Jordan River to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman replied indignantly, “Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” (Second Kings 5:12). Naaman was right: the rivers of Syria were undoubtedly better: They had more water; they were no match hygienically for the mountain spring waters of Damascus; ritually, it is the other way around.

Naaman was disappointed and expected this “man of God,” Elisha, to perform a much more dramatic sign. Naaman even doubted the advice that he had received from the prophet. With great reluctance, he finally gives in to the pleading of his servants to do what the prophet said. Washing in the Jordan he was healed and his flesh became like that of a little child. The muddy waters cleansed Naaman of his leprosy — but even more so of his arrogance.

The two mule-loads of earth that he requests will enable him to take a bit of Israelite earth to his native Syria, where he will build in Aram an altar to the God of Israel. Naaman has seen the power of the God of Israel and will worship none other. This is the final and most important lesson that he learns. Naaman, the foreigner, is not a member of the Chosen People. That God’s mercy is to be extended to all the nations was a notion difficult for Israel to accept.

Along the journey to Jerusalem

Let us situate today’s Gospel (Luke 17:11-19) in Luke’s narrative. Today’s passage begins with the line: “As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem.” This is a reminder to us that Jesus is moving toward his passion, and this clearly rises above the words and events of this entire section of Luke’s Gospel (17:11-18:30). Most of the material in this section is unique to Luke. In 17:11 Luke can almost see Jerusalem in the distance and he points it out to the reader. This section will end in 18:30 because in 18:31, “Behold we are going up to Jerusalem,” Jesus will not leave the meaning of the journey to the disciples’ memory; he will prophesy for the third and final time his passion in the Holy City.

Continued below…

 

[Fidelis]

One grateful leper

Today’s incident of the cleansed and grateful Samaritan leper is narrated only in Luke’s Gospel and provides an instance of Jesus holding up a non-Jew (17:18) as an example to his Jewish contemporaries (cf. 10:33) where a similar purpose is achieved in the story of the Good Samaritan. Moreover, it is the faith in Jesus manifested by the foreigner that has brought him salvation (17:19).

Geography plays a special role in Luke’s Gospel and it is can be literary, theological or physical. In today’s story, the border between Galilee and Samaria is a fitting location for a story involving both Jesus and a Samaritan (verse 16). Lepers kept a distance from non-lepers (verse 12; Leviticus 13:45-46; Numbers 5:2), they formed their own colonies (Second Kings 7:3), and they positioned themselves near busy intersections and highways in order to beg for alms. To show oneself to a priest after healing was according to the law (Leviticus 14:2-32).

Understanding a complex story

Today’s Gospel nevertheless raises several significant questions. Was the Samaritan, who lived outside the requirements of Judaism, included in the command to go to a priest? Why did Jesus reproach the nine for not returning (verses 17-18) when they had been told to go show themselves to a priest for a confirmation of their cure and a release from the status of uncleanness? Jesus’ words to the returning Samaritan: “Your faith has made you well,” seem rather odd, since all of them were healed!

Today’s Gospel must be understood as having two distinct parts: verses 11-14 and 15-19. The first part is a healing story with the standard elements: a cry for help; the response of Jesus; a healing in the act of obedience similar to that of 5:12-16. The second part of the story is the salvation of a foreigner. It is the foreigner who returns, who praises God and who expresses gratitude to Jesus. When Jesus says: “Your faith has made you well,” the blessing certainly refers to some benefit other than that which all, including the other nine, had received earlier. The verb “made well” is the same very often translated “to be saved.”

Salvation by faith

Today’s Gospel is about a foreigner with two counts against him; he received salvation by faith. The man was a Samaritan, a social outcast and a religious heretic suffering from leprosy. In the presence of Jesus, only the foreigner receives the full blessing of Jesus’ ministry. Once again Luke’s predilection for foreigners, outsiders, outcasts, the sick and sinners is very evident in this story.

This story anticipates the great story of the Acts of the Apostles: a growing blindness in Israel, and a receptivity among Gentiles. God’s plan to save the world excludes no one. The healing of the 10 lepers builds on the theme of this universality by implying that the “foreigner” was the only one to return and give thanks to God for the healing received. The implication is clear, and Jesus makes it at other times as well: If those to whom the word of salvation came first did not accept it, it will nevertheless be broadcast to all the world. It is a bitter irony for all of us, that it was the leaders of Jesus’ own people who rejected him!

God’s generosity is ungrudging and his mercy is showered upon all, both the grateful and the ungrateful. Nine of the 10 lepers healed did not return to praise God for their healing. Nevertheless, they are healed, and the wideness of God’s mercy is exalted even in their ingratitude, and ours. Both the Naaman story and the parable of the 10 lepers teach us some powerful lessons about remembrance, gratitude, healing and salvation.
**
Signs of gratitude**

Thankfulness is much more than saying “Thank you” because we have to. It is a way to experience the world, to perceive and to be surprised. Thankfulness is having open eyes and a short distance between the eyes and the heart. What are the signs of grateful people? Tears are always wiped away from the eyes of those who are thankful. The courage to thank, to see the gifts and experiences of this world all together as a gift, changes not only the person who gains this insight. It also changes the environment, the world, and those who surround that person. Grateful hearts are the hallmark of authentic Christians. Those who possess the virtue of gratitude are truly rich. They not only know how richly they have been blessed, but they continuously remember that all good things come from God.

To acknowledge others, to say thank you to others is the mark of greatness. If people associated with us are dispirited, dejected, unmotivated and uninspired, might it have something to do with the fact that we have never expressed our thanks and gratitude to them for who they are and what they do? People bound together by gratitude are always discovering and awakening abundant sources of strength. The more thankful a person is, the richer he or she is within. Thankful people store up in their grateful memory all the good experiences of the past, just as the French proverb states: “Gratitude is the heart’s memory.”

 

[Fidelis]

Active Participation
by Fr. Paul Scalia

A significant aspect of our Lord’s miracles is the cooperation He requires of the people involved. Rarely does He heal someone without requiring something. He tells the paralytic to take up his mat and walk (cf. Mt 9:1-8), the man with the withered hand to stretch it forth (cf. Mt 12:9-14), and the man born blind to go and wash (cf. Jn 9:1-41). Consider how His commands challenge these men. He requires them to do the very thing that their malady prevents: to stretch out the hand, to walk, etc. But in order to receive the miracle, they must trust the command … and try. Their trust in His command provides the proper disposition to receive His miracle. For divine work to be accomplished human trust is required.

So it is with the ten lepers (Lk 17:11-19). He does not heal them outright. He requires something of them: “Go show yourselves to the priests” (Lk 17:14). Now, this seems an unreasonable command. Lepers were banished from the public and liturgical life of Israel. They were forbidden contact with anyone. More to the point, lepers could approach priests only if they were already healed — so that the priests could confirm the cleansing. But our Lord does not heal them first and then send them off. Rather, He tells them to go before there is evidence of healing — the very thing that human wisdom would advise against.

And yet the lepers set out on this seemingly ridiculous errand. They trust in His command — as absurd as it sounds — and they obey. Trusting that they will be healed, they go to show themselves to the priest. And because of their faith, they receive the miracle: “As they were going they were cleansed” (Lk 11:14). Our Lord Himself points out the relationship between their faith and His miracle. When the one leper returns to give thanks, Jesus says, “your faith has saved you” (Lk 11:19). What worked the miracle was not just our Lord’s healing power, but also the leper’s faith in action.

In this miracle and others our Lord manifests the pattern of salvation. God’s grace does not work without our trust. He will not force reconciliation, healing or holiness upon us. We must participate in the healing He desires to give. Imagine the lepers had refused our Lord’s command. Imagine they said, “No. Heal us now before we go.” Or, going further, imagine if the man born blind resisted and obstinately refused to go and wash. Imagine when our Lord commanded him to get up and walk, the paralytic responded, “Make me.”

Such refusals would be absurd. But no more so than when we, willfully or by neglect, refuse to cooperate with our Lord’s grace. That is, when we ask Him for something but do not act in trust. When we receive the Eucharist and expect it to produce effects in us without our cooperation. When we attend Mass and expect to “get something out of it” although interiorly we are far away from the Sacrifice of the altar. When we pray for help in marriage but do not avail ourselves of the natural and supernatural aids available. If we ask our Lord for things, we should do so in trust — and act on those prayers in trust. Like the lepers, if we believe we have already received it — it will be ours (cf. Mk 11:24).
*
Fr. Scalia is pastor of St. John the Beloved parish in McLean, VA.*

 

[Fidelis]

The Hidden Mass in Today’s Gospel and the Perfect Thanksgiving – A Meditation on the Gospel for the 28th Sunday of the Year
By: Msgr. Charles Pope

One of the great human inadequacies is rendering proper and adequate thanks to God. Perhaps the biggest problem is that we don’t even know 90% of what he does for us. It is hid from our eyes. A further problem is that we tend, in our fallen condition, to be wired to magnify our distresses and problems and minimize or discount the enormous blessings of each moment. God sustains every fiber of our being and every atom of creation, his hidden blessings are countless. But we get angry if our iPod is malfunctioning or if one or two out of the trillion blessings he gives is withdrawn.

But in the end an old gospel song says it well:

• I’ve got so much to thank God for; So many wonderful blessings and so many open doors. A brand new mercy along with each new day. That’s why I praise You and for this I give You praise. For waking me up this morning , For starting me on my way, For letting me see the sunshine, of a brand new day. That’s why I praise You and for this I give You praise. So many times You´ve met my needs, So many times You rescued me. That’s why I praise You.

For every mountain You brought me over For every trial you’ve seen me through. For every blessing, For this I give You praise*

Fundamental Question – So here is the question at the heart of today’s Gospel. It is best asked in the Book of Psalms: What return shall I make to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? The same psalm goes on to answer the question in this way: The cup of salvation I will take up and call on the name of the Lord. (Psalm 116:12)

**The Mass is signified – **Yes indeed, how can I possibly thank the Lord for all the good he has done for me? Notice that the psalm points to the Eucharist in saying, The cup of salvation I will take up….” As you know the word “Eucharist” is a Greek word which means, “thanksgiving.” We cannot thank God the Father adequately, but Jesus can. And in every Mass we join our meager thanksgiving to his perfect thanksgiving. Jesus takes up the cup of salvation and shows it to us at every Mass through the priest. This is the perfect and superabundant thanks that only Jesus can offer the Father. And he joins us to his perfect sacrifice of thanks in every Mass. This is how we give thanks in a way commensurate with the manifold blessings we have received.

**Hidden Mass! – **Now the Gospel makes this point, that the Mass is the perfect offering of thanks to the Father, in a remarkable and almost hidden way. But for Catholics it is right there for us to see if we have eyes to see it. For the Gospel today contains all the essential elements of Holy Mass. In so doing, this Gospel about giving thanks reminds us once again that it is the Mass which is the perfect thanksgiving, the perfect “Eucharist.” Let’s look and see how it is a Mass:

** 1. Gathering –** Notice first that there is a gathering. Ten lepers (us) have gathered and Jesus comes near as he passes on his way. We do this in every Mass, we gather and the Lord draws near. Indeed, in the person of the priest, who is the sacrament, the sign of his presence, Jesus walks the aisle of our Church just like he walked those ancient roads.
** 2. Kyrie –** Next they cry out for mercy just like we do at every Mass: Lord have mercy! Jesus, Master, have pity on us!
** 3. Liturgy of the Word – **Next Jesus quotes Scripture and then applies it to their life just like he does for us at every Mass. In saying, “Go show yourselves to the priests” Jesus is referencing Leviticus 14 which gives detailed instructions on how the priests of old were to diagnose leprosy and also its having been cured. Jesus quotes this scripture and applies it to their life. This is what we do at every Mass wherein God’s Word is proclaimed and then the Lord Jesus, speaking through the priest or deacon, applies the text(s) to our life.
** 4. Liturgy of the Eucharist – **Next, the text says that one of them: fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. This is what we do during the Eucharistic prayer, we kneel and thank Jesus, and also, with Jesus, give thanks to the Father. As we have noted, the word “Eucharist” comes from Greek and means “to give thanks.” Here is the perfect thanks rendered to the Father. To those who say they can stay home and give adequate thanks to God, there should only be the rebuke that they are prideful. Only Jesus can give perfect thanks to the Father. And we can only give adequate thanks to Jesus by following his command to “do this in memory of me.” We have to be at Mass.
** 5. Ite Missa est – **Finally, Jesus sends him on his way, saying Stand up and go; your faith has saved you. We too are sent forth by Jesus at the end of every Mass when He speaks through the priest or deacon: “The Mass is ended, God in peace.”

So, there it is. In this Gospel that very clearly instructs us to give thanks to God is the very structure of the Mass. If you want to give proper thanks to God and you made it to Mass this morning, you’re in the right place. Only here is perfect and proper thanks given to God.

It was all prefigured in the psalm long ago: What return shall I make to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up and call on the name of the Lord (Psalm 116:12). It is the very cup of salvation, the chalice containing Christ’s blood that is held up at every Mass. It is the perfect sacrifice of thanks. It is the prescribed sacrifice of praise. It is the proper sacrifice of praise.

 

[kelvinf]

I find it hard to answer some of the personal reflection questions like: What happened to the other 9 lepers? The difference between God’s saving power and healing power…

My question is actually: how is the second reading related to the first and the Gospel?